[4/17/03]There isn’t much that St. Aloysius and Ethel have in common as they prepare for their first-round Class 1A playoff series.

St. Al (12-5), the defending South State champion, is a team loaded with upperclassmen and experience that have advanced to at least the South State semifinals each of the last two seasons.

Ethel (13-11), a newcomer to the playoffs, has only one senior and one junior starter and is looking to take the first steps toward greater things in the future. The Tigers’ win total of this season matches that of the last two years combined.

The two teams do have two things in common though the desire to win a state title, and no knowledge of the other team. They’ll take their first steps toward their goal tonight at 6 at Bazinsky Field in game one, and likely learn a little about each other in the process.

Game two of the series is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. at Ethel, and game three, if necessary, will be Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Bazinsky Field.

“They haven’t done a whole bunch in the paper, but you can’t go by what you read in the paper. I’m not going to take anybody for granted. We’re going to play them like we’re playing the Yankees,” St. Al coach Joe Graves said.

Tonight’s game will feature a duel of left-handers. Ethel will start sophomore ace Shane Hunt, who enters the game with a 6-2 record and 1.80 ERA. St. Al will counter with senior Jason Brown (6-1), who is averaging nearly eight strikeouts and only 1.3 walks per game.

If the expected pitcher’s duel develops, Ethel coach Chris Schuster said it could give his team a slight edge.

“I’m hoping for a 5-2 or 6-3 game. I’m hoping Shane can get a lot of ground balls and pop-ups and keep them off the bases. We haven’t scored a lot of runs all year,” Schuster said.

That’s markedly different from St. Al, which has often used its powerful hitting attack to win games. The Flashes are averaging 9.6 runs per game, helping to compensate for a defense that has been shaky at times this season.

A lack of knowledge about the Ethel pitching staff could short-circuit St. Al’s hitting, but the Flashes were confident at practice on Wednesday.

“I think it’ll be tougher. You’re familiar with an opponent, you know the ins and outs of their program. We’re coming in blind,” St. Al centerfielder Walker Hengst said. “I feel if we play our game, we’ll have the series over in 10 innings.”

One way or another, both teams would like the series to be over that quickly. If it goes longer, though, things could get dicey.

Neither team has a deep pitching staff, making the first game even more important than usual. For St. Al, which has aspirations of advancing deep in the playoffs, it could also pay dividends down the line.

“It’s always important to get ahead in the playoffs,” Brown said. “If we can get the first one, hopefully we can win the next one and eliminate some of the sore arms.”